Another race I hadn't done before, although I'd done some running in the area a few years back. After work friday we packed up the van and headed up to Alston. We were staying at Hagg Bank caravan site. This turned out to be an interesting little site - 2 gravel parks. One by the road, one by the river. We opted for the river and got eaten alive every time we left the van. The shower block was absolutely outstanding though, and the parking was nice and level. Ideal for a transit stay.
We'd packed full kit earlier in the week apart from water and food. The mandatory kit for the P39 is rather... comprehensive. I'm pretty cautious but full length body cover plus full length waterproof cover, plus a primaloft, plus a survival bag seemed an awful lot in July with only one 900m top. Especially during an extreme heat weather event. A lot of people weren't carrying anything like full kit according to pre race discussion, and that was evident with some of the packs.
We carried everything anyway, because we both err on the side of caution. A surprise kit check with less than mandatory kit could result in a DQ.
Saturday morning we got up early. Another van was staying in the same area and was up early too. They were wearing running kit but headed off early enough for the 7am bus. I may have passed them later in the day. We had some breakfast and trundled off to Alston. Parking in the free car park on the Nenthead road we slathered ourselves in P20 sun cream. We spotted Andy Ellwood a couple of vehicles over and walked down to the start with him.
At this point my brain disengaged a bit and I didn't go register. Not sure why, I had it in my mind that we were supposed to register at Bowlees. The bus turned up and took us to Bowlees where I went and found Joe. Joe dealt with the problem placidly in spite of me being a bit argumentative for which I subsequently apologised, and recycled race numbers from a couple of no shows.
The start at Low Force was thoroughly low key, and off we went. I know this section from a couple of walking trips, and gradually overtook a large proportion of the pack between here and a farmhouse near Forest. Passing through a herd of extremely cute baby Galloways, chatting with Claire when she was nearby but gradually pulling ahead a little.
The rocky section below Cauldron Snout wasn't quite as gnarly as I remembered - possibly because the last time I ran here was in ice and snow. I got chatting with another runner who was nearby for almost the entire race, finishing just ahead of me. We chatted quite a bit during the course of the day.
Cauldron Snout was flowing pretty well and looked spectacular. I clambered up the side, took a few pictures and got onto the first of the two long tracks.
The gravel vehicle track from Cow Green skirts the edge of Warcop for most of the way to High Cup Nick. Red flags warned us not to stray from the path with the threat of flying ordnance rather than werewolves. Shame really, I'd almost rather deal with werewolves than run on that surface.
As I left the track with considerable relief I realised Karen was just ahead of me. I've been running a bit quicker this year while Karen has been doing an awful lot of sport climbing, and have caught her up more than once. Spoiler alert: I've still not beaten her to the finish.
I got ahead of Karen just at the top of High Cup Nick, took a couple of photos then absolutely caned it down into Dufton. At one point I was doing 5 minute kilometres, which was far too fast. I eased off on the way into the village, popped into the CP to fill my bottles and grab some crisps (saying hi to beardy Stu and another bearded chap from CVFR who was being appalled at the thought of being from Todmorden) and got going again.
This next section to the top of Knock Fell was really tough going. It's a long drawn out climb once you get past the foot of Dufton Pike and I took the opportunity to eat quite a bit. As I climbed I could feel myself getting too warm and slowed off a bit, then stopped at a stream to soak a buff and pour water on myself.
The top of Knock Fell was breezier, and the marshal there was probably getting a bit chilly. He informed me there was extra water next to his car on the radar road, and I got going across the top of the fell.
The next six or seven miles were absolute purgatory.
I was feeling a bit wobbly so I ate some cheese pitta. Which sorted my mood, but made my stomach churn. The track to Garrigill off Cross Fell is an awful specimen - mile after mile of rocky vehicle path with nothing to relieve the monotony. Like running on the towpath only less interesting and with a worse surface.
At some point another runner passed me as if I was standing still. Then as I ran in to Garrigill Karen and my companion from earlier caught me up. I filled up with water, risked a couple of pieces of melon then we all got going.
Karen took a wrong turn at the bridge and we had to backtrack for 50m or so. But since I'd been following her 2021 track for the previous six hours I couldn't really grumble. We pushed each other along for the remaining miles on a very pretty riverside path, both trying to gain a little here and there and both struggling in the heat. Finally Karen got a sniff of the finish and took off like a scalded rabbit, finishing a minute or so ahead of me.
I sat still for about 20 minutes at the end. I was pretty dehydrated and wiped out, and also worried about Claire. Long sections of flat are not her thing and I wanted to find where she was. Unfortunately the location service we use hadn't updated in the mobile data weak area and I wasn't able to track her. I eventually moved inside for some soup, and Claire joined me exhausted and dehydrated about an hour later. That's a bigger lead than I'd normally have, but I'd had a particularly strong run (partly driven by rivalry with Karen) on terrain that I'm more used to. My final position was tenth in 7 hours 22 mins, which was a very nice surprise.
2 hours or so of tea drinking later I was rehydrated enough to limp back up to the van. Apart from some cramping on the Hartside road which meant a short stretching break, we had a reasonable journey back. Claire was struggling with dehydration well into the following day, which we spent loafing around in the sun, washing and drying kit and drinking tea and alcohol free lager.
Kit
- OMM shorts
- Raidlight t shirt
- UD Fastpack 15
- Altra Superior shoes
- Drymax thin socks
- Montane minimus waterproof
- Montane classic windproof
- Evadict waterproof trousers
- Yorkshireman 2018 long sleeve t shirt
- OMM full length tights
- Inov8 AT/C insulated jacket
- Garmin etrex 20x
- spare batteries
- Skilhunt RC04 mini
- UD body bottle
- Hydrapak crush bottle with salomon XA filter cap
- Montane cap
- buffs
- small first aid kit
- printed map
Food
- cheese and onion roll * 1
- cheese pizza pittas * 3
Stats:
1 bagging round
1 ultra event pre 2019
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